Stary Night
by shektor
Summary: It was a beautiful night. The blanket of twinkling stars was spread out over China. The Valley of Peace was quiet and content. However, one such citizen, consequently a warrior, was in no way sleepy.


A/N-Ok guys, it has been a long time. I know I said I would continue my series ages ago, I'm sorry. This is going to be a one-shot, and not related to my current series.  
Po's night  
It was a beautiful night. The blanket of twinkling stars was spread out over China. The Valley of Peace was quiet and content. However, one such citizen, consequently a warrior, was in no way sleepy. He sat on the cliff overlooking the Valley, two peach trees with pink blossoms floating down behind him - one large, aged tree, and then one small tree, merely a baby. The warrior was deep in thought.  
I thought back to two months ago, when I was just a noddle chef. And now, now I was The Dragon Warrior, and had defeated one of the most powerful Kung Fu masters that the Valley had ever seen. And even with this accomplishment, it was the last thing on my mind. What was on my mind, or maybe you should who. I couldn't get her off my mind. It started when she smiled at me. That one image burned in my memory. Her smile, especially with the sunrise, seemed to make her glow. It had been two months since I saved the valley. And life had returned to normal, waking up with the gong, training, eating, training, eating, sleeping, only to start over again the next day. I had gotten closer with the Five, Tigress especially.

In the days following Tai Lung's defeat, I started training with each of the Furious Five. First I did Tai Chi and flexibility with Viper, there were obvious difficulties, but I mastered it in only one week. Second was speed with Mantis. It didn't come naturally at first, but after about five days, I was able to keep up to speed with Master Shifu on his staircase sprints. Next was balance with Crane. Using my new speed, I was able to move about the Jade Tortoise without it moving. Being able to stand still on its edge was a challenge still, but I overcame that with a week's practise (and I only fell in a few times). Fourth was weapon training with Monkey. This only took three days, the previous lessons helping immensely.

I was then scheduled to train with Tigress. The first thing she had me do was complete the obstacles in the Training Hall. I managed to do this in only two minutes and three seconds. Tigress currently held the record at one minute and forty-seven seconds. We proceeded to do strength training. She straight out refused to allow me to train with the iron wood trees. Tigress training schedule was rigorous, with me fainting the first few times. After a week's work, and Shifu suggesting she go a little easier, I began showing improvement. When I was able to handle her lessons, I started to look forward to them everyday. Secret from Master Shifu and the rest of the Five, it was a regular thing for us to spend some time relaxing. Not meditation, just…talking, sharing with each other their secrets and other personal details. This brought us closer and we were soon inseparable, spending our even downtime together.  
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a noise from behind me. I quickly got to my feet and spun around, only to find no one there. I backed up to the Peach tree so I couldn't get taken by surprise. I stood there, waiting for whoever it was to make their move, but nothing happened. As soon as I dropped out of my stance, I heard a noise behind me again. Too late I realised that the attacker was hidden in the peach tree, and I was tackled from behind. I rolled forward with the momentum and managed to pin him to the ground. I was about to strike, when I saw the attacker's face….Master Tigress.

Tigress' night  
It was a beautiful night. The blanket of twinkling stars was spread out over China. The Valley of Peace was quiet and content. I was woken by the sound of someone moving about, someone left their room, closed the door, and left the Sleeping Hall. From the sound of the footsteps, I realised it could only be one person. He had learnt to tread lighter thanks to his training, and no longer woke the others with the squeaky floorboards, I only heard him because my hearing was more advanced than everyone else's. But that left me to wonder what he would be doing up this late at night. He usually slept for hours, only waking for the morning gong. After the sounds slowly faded away, I crept to my door, quietly creeping to my door and silently sliding it open. I set out to follow him and find out what was keeping him awake, as he had woken up at this hour every night for the last four nights. Beginning my journey, my thoughts wandered back to when Po had just defeated Tai Lung.  
In the days following Tai Lung's defeat, Po started training with each of us-the Furious Five. First he did Tai Chi and flexibility with Viper, there were obvious difficulties, but he mastered it in only one week. Second was speed with Mantis. It didn't come naturally to him at first for obvious reasons, but after about five days, he was able to keep up to speed with Master Shifu on his staircase sprints. Next was balance with Crane. Using his newly gained speed, he was able to move about the Jade Tortoise without it moving. That amazed me. Fourth was weapon training with Monkey. This only took three days, the previous lessons helping him immensely.

I was scheduled to train with him next. The first thing I had him do was complete the obstacles in the Training Hall. I currently held the record at one minute and forty-seven seconds. He managed to do it in only two minutes and three seconds, not too bad considering his first attempt. We proceeded to do strength training. I straight out refused to train him with the iron wood trees. I was not going to put him through what I went through and destroy the nerves in his hands. My training schedule was rigorous, or so I was told by the others. I didn't see anything wrong with it, it was simple enough. Though Po did faint the first few times. After a week's work, and Shifu suggesting I go a little easier, he began showing improvement. It surprised me at first, but I soon found that I started to look forward to training with him every day. Secret from Master Shifu and the rest of the Five, it was a regular thing for us to spend some time relaxing. Not meditation, just…talking, sharing with each other their secrets and other personal details. This brought us closer and we were soon inseparable, spending even our downtime together.  
I was snapped out of my thoughts when I stepped on a twig. I looked up and saw Po had heard it and was about to turn around. Without a further noise, I leapt up high out of sight and landed into the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. I prayed to myself silently, hoping that Oogway would forgive me. Finished, I watched as Po got up and spun around, getting into his stance, only to find no one there. He backed up to the Peach tree, I imagine it was so as not to get taken by surprise. While he stood there, waiting for whoever it was to make their move, I stealthily crept down until I was almost right behind him. When nothing happened, Po dropped out of his stance. I took this as my cue to tackle him, but in order to position myself good, I made a small noise. I knew Po had heard by the way his little ears swivelled ever so lightly. Before he was able to turn around to see me, I launched myself forward, taking him down to the ground with me. I was surprised at how fast he adapted and rolled forward with my tackle, managing to grab my wrist and manoeuvre himself so that I was pinned underneath him. Looking up, I saw he was ready to strike, until he recognised it was me.

Shifu's night  
However, one such citizen, consequently a warrior, was in no way sleepy. He sat on the cliff overlooking the Valley, two peach trees with pink blossoms floating down behind him - one large, aged tree, and then one small tree, merely a baby. The warrior was deep in thought.  
I was seated atop the Hall of Warriors. It might be thought of as strange, but it is actually quite peaceful. My son had finally been defeated by the true Dragon Warrior, and I had been chosen as the new Grand Master of the Jade Palace. Granted it had been almost two months ago and I had found Inner Peace, but I still felt like relaxing on nights such as this. On this particular night, I was not the only one awake. I watched as Po exited the Sleeping Quarters and headed towards the Peach Tree. He sat down and stared out at the Valley below. Perhaps he was in need of a relaxing night just as I was. At some point, my mind wandered, going over the events of the past two months.  
In the days following Tai Lung's defeat, Po started training with each of the Furious Five. First he did Tai Chi and flexibility with Viper, there were obvious difficulties, but he mastered it in only one week. Second was speed with Mantis. It didn't come naturally to him at first for obvious reasons, but after about five days, he was able to keep up to speed with me on his staircase sprints. I was surprised. Next was balance with Crane. Using his newly gained speed, he was able to move about the Jade Tortoise without it moving. That amazed me. Fourth was weapon training with Monkey. This only took three days, the previous lessons helping him immensely.  
After he mastered the lessons that Viper, Mantis, Crane and Monkey, he was ready to train with Tigress. I knew it was the obvious course of action, and everyone expected it. Out of nowhere this protective urge fought to make itself known that Tigress was not to train in such close quarters, but thankfully I was able to quell that random desire. I hadn't treated her as a daughter since I adopted her, so I had no right to start now. Tigress and Po began training about a month after Tai Lung was defeated.  
Watching Tigress' training regime was brutal, the first thing she had Po was complete the obstacles in the Training Hall. He managed to do it in only two minutes and three seconds, not too bad considering his first attempt. Well, technically, it was his second attempt. After that, they did strength training. Tigress refused to train him with the iron wood trees, a decision I strongly agreed with. Po fainted the first few times, which brought on the worried opinions of the rest of the Five. After a week, even I felt I had to speak up. Watching her "train" Po could have been mistaken as torture by anyone else. The real shock was that I realised I put her, my own daughter through much worse.  
Eventually, Po began showing improvement. I could see his mood grew brighter, if that was even possible for Po. Over the next few days, I noticed a change in Tigress. It seemed as if training with Po was also helping her release all the withheld emotions that I could sense inside her. I knew that, ultimately, I would have to apologise to her and show her the love and praise she has craved this entire time. I could see in the way they behaved together during their training sessions that had slowly turned from teammates to friends, and then to confidants. I watched as they begun spending more time together outside of training, eventually becoming inseparable.  
I was roused from my reminiscing as the sound of a twig snapping brought me back to reality. Looking around, I found its source, Tigress had awoken for some reason and was approaching Po, before leaping into the Peach Tree to avoid detection. In what could be possibly stretched out over two chapters of a story, perhaps being in two different points of view, but only took ten seconds, I watched Tigress position herself and then tackle Po. Only for Po to gain the upper hand and pin her to the ground, poised to strike. I couldn't help but swell with pride at that. But what happened next was completely unexpected.  
I watched in frozen shock as Po and Tigress locked eyes and slowly leaned their faces towards each other as their eyes closed.


End file.
